Telephone Charging Rates

As applied by BT

Written by Clive Feather

Last updated 2009-06-25

Introduction

Many telephone companies charge the same prices for calls to all geographic
(those beginning 01 and 02) and pseudo-geographic numbers (03).
However, that didn't always used to be the case, and some companies still
distinguish between "local" and other numbers.
This page discusses the meaning of "local" and related terms, at least how
they were applied by BT.
Much of this page uses the present tense, because the concepts still exist
even though they have no practical use.

In my work over the years, I discovered that a lot of people
didn't really understand
how the phone calls they made were charged.
For example, many people believed that a phone call was more expensive if they
dialled a number beginning 0.
While it is true that all long-distance calls do begin with 0, so do
many local calls.

(For those unclear about this concept, it is possible to omit the dialling code
if it is the same as your own and begins 01 or 02.
So if your phone number begins 020, then you can dial 7222 1234 rather than
020 7222 1234.
Furthermore, there used to be a series of "local codes".
Thus from 0223 (now 01223) numbers, it was possible to dial
92 instead of 0638 and 93 instead of 0954.
Contrary to some people's belief,
it made no difference to the cost whether you used the full code or the local code.

Before we start ...

This material has been compiled from various sources. It is correct to the
best of my knowledge, but I take no responsibility for any use made of it. This
page is not sponsored, supported, or otherwise connected with BT other than
through use of publically available BT material.

Some other telephone companies use the same method of charging as BT, or a
variation thereon. Others do not. You should contact your telephone company for
specific details of how they charge for calls. Furthermore, this material only
applies to calls between geographic numbers, and not mobile or personal numbers
or other services. For an example of the range of non-geographical numbers, and
the different rates that apply, see the
Kingston Communications tariff.

I would like to know of any errors in the information presented. The best
form of evidence is an extract from a telephone bill. Nearly as good is an
extract from the local telephone directory, though these have been
known to contain mistakes.
In both cases, please
email me a scanned-in image or a pointer
to an image.
I do not consider statements made by BT operators to be evidence;
I have far too many examples of when they have given wrong, or even
nonsense, answers.

Types of call

The BT charging system has three types of call:
local,
regional, and
national. Local calls are generally cheaper than regional ones, which in
turn are cheaper (or sometimes the same price as) national ones. Of course, the
cost of a call also varies according to the time of day and the day of the week.

On 1999-10-01 BT made the regional and national rates the same for all
calls, and on 2000-12-20 they formally abolished the distinction.

Charge groups

BT divide the United Kingdom into 637 "charge groups", each with a
name and a reference number. In theory, each group covers a particular area, and
(it is claimed) the boundaries between the groups are regularly adjusted.
However, it is not actually necessary to know the boundaries, as it is always
possible to tell which charge group a phone belongs to by the first 4, 5, or 6
digits of its number.

Some charge groups cover a single dialling code while others cover more than
one, and some dialling codes are split into several groups. For example:

The Cambridge charge group contains all 01223 numbers.

The Sheffield charge group contains all 0114 numbers.

The Bristol charge group contains all 0117 numbers and also all
01275 numbers.

0191 numbers are split between three different charge groups:

Durham for numbers beginning with 3,

Newcastle for numbers beginning with 2, 4, or 6, and

Sunderland for numbers beginning with 5.

028 numbers are split into a large number of charge groups depending on the
first two digits.

Relating call types to charge groups

All calls between numbers in the same charge group are local calls. However,
the converse is not true. If two charge groups touch each other, then a call
between them is also local. The catch, of course, is determining which charge
groups do touch. It ought to be simple to decide, but there are a number of
problems. Firstly, BT do not publish maps of charge group boundaries, claiming
that there are tens or hundreds of changes each month. Then there are a number
of marginal cases. If two charge groups are on the opposite side of a bay or
river estuary, there is no easy way to tell if they "touch" or not.
Furthermore, sometimes four, rather than three, groups appear to be about to
meet at the same place. Sometimes all four are local to each other, and
sometimes there is one pair which are not. And finally, there are a number of
explicit special cases where calls are made local in order to bind a community together.

While local calls are defined in terms of charge group boundaries, regional
and national calls are not. Instead, each charge group is given a location known
as its
charging point. If two charge groups are not local to each other, it is
necessary to determine the distance between their charging points. If this is
under 56.4km, calls between them are regional; otherwise they are national.
Naturally, BT do not publicise the actual locations of the charging points.

Finally, the Republic of Ireland adds yet another special case. Calls from
Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) to the Republic are charged at a
special "Irish" rate. But calls from Northern Ireland are charged on
the same basis as calls within the UK - a charge group in Northern Ireland may
be a local call, a regional call, or a national call to a given charge group in
the Republic. In particular, there are cross-border local calls.

Finding your charge group

For more information about the charge group a number is in, and what groups
it is local to, find the first few digits in the following list.